Mac Pro 6 core, D500, 256ssd 64gb loss of memory problems

I Can simply have the computer running with no Apps other than Finder & Adobe CC cloud and it burns up all RAM within an hour.
Help?

By far the things that cause the most issues are "just one little thing" that Users have added. These tend to cause trouble because they are badly-crafted or because they do things in violation of Developer Guidelines.
Lots of seemingly innocent little things that users have added have been seen to cause serious problems in high-end Mac Pros. If you want trouble-free, remove all the non-Apple add-ons and just run straight, unmodified Mac OS X and Major Applications, no add-ons. Readers here could easily produce a list of more than 50 add-ons that have been seen in postings here to cause trouble. When in doubt, throw it out.
The anti-malware features built into Mac OS X work better that any so-called "anti-Virus". Most of these commercial packages are simply worthless, but some also ruin performance, ruin memory utilization, or cause kernel panics without adding any additional value.
Hardware problems do not cause memory leaks.
The Mac Pro has Error Correcting Code memory, and its memory problems do not fester undetected. But you do need to check that all the memory you installed is still listed as present, because ANY problems detected at Startup can cause failing modules to be marked "absent".

Similar Messages

Where can i buy mac pro core 12 64GB (8x8GB) memory?

64GB (8x8GB)
for the mac pro core 12 memory

Yes. I've bought a lot of stuff from them over the years. And in fact when I got my mac pro I bought my ram from them too. They specifically cater to mac needs. They have a fairly liberal return policy. For example, I bought a eSATA card which turned out to not work the way I expected with my external enclosure (also bought from OWC). I returned it for another make of card with no problems. Reading these and other mac forums you will see a lot of recommendations for OWC.
And yes, I don't know why the url is macsales.com either. But it should be obvious from that choice of url they really do cater to mac ('er sales).

Mac Pro 4,1 with Radeon 5770 upgrade audio problem

Today I installed the 5770 upgrate from apple. I bought it from amazon.co.uk.
I installed two cards, one on my 4,1 mac Pro and one on my old 1,1 Mac Pro.
The problem is that I lost the sound card on my 4,1. No audio at all. There is no sound card in the profiler, although when i run Windows 7 64 on bootcamp I can see the sound card, the drivers work but still no sound at all. I rolled back to my 4770 and everything worked as usual. The old mac runs perfectly with the new radeon.
Both macs run 10.6.7 fully updated.
I don't understand it
need help...

Hi There!
Same thing happened to me today installing a new ATI 5770 into a 2009 quad-core Mac Pro.
Simple answer: reset your PRAM.
There is a switch on the logicboard next to the RTC battery.
Shutdown the Mac with the 5770 installed, disconnect the Mac's power cable, hold down the reset swtich for 10 seconds, re-attach the Mac's power cable & boot the Mac.
If successful you will hear the "RAM is good" chime when booting.
Your audio device will now appear in System Profiler.
Enjoy your music!
Regards,
Dzzineer

New Mac Pro. Lion upgrade completed but OS having problems

I upgraded last night my Mac Pro to Lion, I bought my machine 3 months ago.
The machine was already having issues right after the install, its running very slow. Been trying to fix it but cant find whats slowing it down, I have Office 2011 and Skype installed.
I don't think I have much choice but to reinstall, but Lion does not seem to allow but media to be burned so I can do a clean reinstall.
I have found on the internet ways to burn the OS, but this only seems to work before the OS is installed. Is there any way to redownload it if you have Lion installed?

How to Create & Burn a Bootable Mac OS X Lion Install DVD
Summary
OS X Lion includes a new feature called Lion Recovery that includes all of the tools you need to reinstall Lion, repair your disk, and even restore from a Time Machine backup without the need for optical discs.
To redownload the installer on a computer running OS X Lion, press and hold the Option key while you click the Purchases tab. If the button to the right of the Install Mac OS X Lion item doesn't change to "Install" and allow you to download Lion, use Spotlight to search for "Install Mac OS X Lion" on your computer....
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4718

Mac Pro freezing at start up, not sure if problem is hardware or software

A week ago my Mac Pro began freezing at start up. I push the power button, the tone goes off, but start up never makes it past the gray screen with the spinning gear.
I have two HDs in my computer, one for Mac OS and the other for Windows. Neither drive successfully loads the OS. When I try and boot under Windows it similarly freezes before account login.
I have tried reinstalling both Mac and Windows OS several times, but encounter the same problem each time.
Any advice or assistance would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

Run Apple Hardware Test: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1509.
Do you have any other hardware installed attached to your computer?

My friend has the mac pro core 12, but what kind of hard drive he needs?

to fill all the empty slots on the upper area
what kindhe wants 3.0 tb hard drives
or 2tb

MPG - Desktop Hard Drives - Hitachi 3TB Deskstar 7K3000

Mac Pro - Adobe InDesign CS 2 - Out of Memory

My client has bought 2 new 2.66GHz Quads for design purposes...
Not a good idea by the look of it, as ID is constantly coming up with "Out of Memory" errors and checking the ram usage it's taking about 250Mb with no pages open and gets up to 500-600Mb when opening multiple docs but watching the VM it's up to 3+Gb !!! On my mac here, a Dual 1.25 Ghz G4, I get 150Mb and 550Mb VM only ...
I am aware of it's running under emulation but boy my client is not happy !
AND now my supplier has suggested throwing in another 2Gb of ram per machine as $1K per machine !!!
I hope something is done by Adobe to at least help the situation until CS 3 comes out because the machine is pretty much useless for it's intended purpose...
Mitch
G4 Dual 1.25 GHz-1.5 Gb RAM 200+Gb Storage + Powerbook + Dell Laptop Mac OS X (10.4.8) Plus over 1 TB of storage

I might have missed it, but did you specify how much ram the MacPros have installed?
Make sure that there's no problem with the memory, that is if you have 2 gig installed the computer recognizes the 2 gig. I've seen some cases where a user put in 2 gig but because of a bad module only 1 gig was recognized.
Aside from that, rosetta basically doubles the memory requirements for any given application, so if you ran CS2 fine with 2 gig you'll need 4 gig to get the same type of usage.
I use photoshop CS on my Macpro with 2 gig and I don't get out of memory errors. I've come close a few times but I also don't really do too much heavy lifting with photoshop.
I think because of Rosetta, 4 gig is the sweetspot for the macpro. I have two and after working with photoshop and aperture I noticed a lot of swap files created. More so then when I was on a G5 with 2 gig.
Mike

Mac Mini core solo 1.5gb snow leopard installation problem.

Before I tried to install snow leopard I was in the middle of using the restore discs and before I was thinking about it I just turned the computer off when it asked for disc 2. Now I cannot do anything with this computer, turning it on goes to the installation menu and It just prompts for the second disc which I do not have. All my menus are disabled such as disc utility and can't start a fresh install. Also when I turn the computer on and hold the alt key down with a usb keyboard I do not get the option of selecting the snow leopard disc when the option of the hard drives come up. It just ejects the discs. Also tried holding down the C key to boot from dvd and no luck. Any way to get around this or another command to try?

Sounds like your optical drive went out. Either get it fixed or use an external USB CD/DVD drive. You might try another disc first to eliminate a problem on your install disc. Sometimes scratches and finger prints on a disc can cause problems.
Check out the new remodeled MacOSG website! 24-hour Apple-related news & support.
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Why won't Mac Pro 1,1 won't recognize new memory?

Hi out there. I needed a bit more memory so I got 2G of Kingston. I had ordered it from MacMall and had given my serial # and they picked it, so I am assuming it is the right memory. I have installed it in slot 3. From what I have read in the manual that is correct. I have heard conflicting things about having to install in pairs. I have 512 in slots 1 and 2 for a total of 1G before the new memory. I have taken it out and put it back in a few times, reset PRAM, etc, to no avail. So, my question is.... does it really need to be installed in pairs???? Could it just be faulty memory? I have searched the forum, and this seems to be a common problem with later models of MacPros, but I haven't seen anything about older ones like mine.
Thanks!

OK, thanks. I thought so. I wasn't sure though and when I talked to the woman at MacMall she said no. I have done a lot of biz with them and have never steered me wrong before, so I am not dissing them, but it sure would have been nice to know to begin with so I could have bought two 1Gs instead of having to buy another 2Gs. Oh well, now it will hopefully be back to being superfast.
Thanks for your quick response, I appreciate it!

Mac pro 8 core crashes every few days?

I have a Mac Pro 8 core as an audio computer that creashes every few days. I'm new to Mac. Here's the error report...
nterval Since Last Panic Report: 194586 sec
Panics Since Last Report:          1
Anonymous UUID:                    0E0488BF-6748-42BA-8371-D640E11F1B82
Tue Apr 1 13:13:41 2014
panic(cpu 3 caller 0x2aab59): Kernel trap at 0x0141d968, type 14=page fault, registers:
CR0: 0x8001003b, CR2: 0x0000000c, CR3: 0x00100000, CR4: 0x00000660
EAX: 0x00000000, EBX: 0x20bfca00, ECX: 0x092f0000, EDX: 0x00000000
CR2: 0x0000000c, EBP: 0x90453898, ESI: 0x00000000, EDI: 0x83720910
EFL: 0x00010286, EIP: 0x0141d968, CS: 0x00000008, DS: 0x90450010
Error code: 0x00000000
Backtrace (CPU 3), Frame : Return Address (4 potential args on stack)
0x90453678 : 0x21b510 (0x5d9514 0x904536ac 0x223978 0x0)
0x904536c8 : 0x2aab59 (0x59aeec 0x141d968 0xe 0x59b0b6)
0x904537a8 : 0x2a09b8 (0x904537c0 0x0 0x90453898 0x141d968)
0x904537b8 : 0x141d968 (0xe 0x83720048 0x90450010 0x490010)
0x90453898 : 0x141af53 (0x20bfca00 0x145f868 0x4 0x0)
0x90453968 : 0x140a60e (0x20bfca00 0x904539e2 0x5 0x90453c08)
0x90453c48 : 0x2fbef3 (0x90453c68 0x3 0x90453c98 0x587079)
0x90453c98 : 0x2d982a (0x1f80a000 0x90453e24 0x90453f38 0x203f75d4)
0x90453d28 : 0x2da65c (0x90453e0c 0x100 0x90453e2c 0x0)
0x90453de8 : 0x2ca702 (0x90453e0c 0x104252b8 0x34000 0x1)
0x90453f78 : 0x4f6075 (0x118f0d20 0x203f1328 0x203f7514 0x1)
0x90453fc8 : 0x2a144d (0x203f1324 0x0 0x10 0x14127ac4)
      Kernel Extensions in backtrace (with dependencies):
         com.apple.filesystems.ntfs(3.4)@0x1400000->0x145ffff
BSD process name corresponding to current thread: ManagedClient
Mac OS version:
10J869
Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 10.7.0: Sat Jan 29 15:17:16 PST 2011; root:xnu-1504.9.37~1/RELEASE_I386
System model name: MacPro3,1 (Mac-F42C88C8)
System uptime in nanoseconds: 145839658408725
unloaded kexts:
com.apple.driver.AirPortBrcm43xx 423.91.27 (addr 0xd48000, size 0x1900544) - last unloaded 117635799287
loaded kexts:
com.paceap.kext.pacesupport.snowleopard 5.9.1
com.digidesign.iokit.DigiDal 8.1.1d2
com.apple.filesystems.ntfs 3.4
com.apple.filesystems.autofs 2.1.0
com.apple.driver.AppleHWSensor 1.9.3d0
com.apple.driver.AppleUpstreamUserClient 3.5.4
com.apple.driver.AppleMCCSControl 1.0.17
com.apple.driver.AppleHDA 1.9.9f12
com.apple.kext.ATIFramebuffer 6.2.6
com.apple.driver.AudioAUUC 1.54
com.apple.ATIRadeonX2000 6.2.6
com.apple.Dont_Steal_Mac_OS_X 7.0.0
com.apple.driver.AudioIPCDriver 1.1.6
com.apple.driver.AppleMCEDriver 1.1.9
com.apple.driver.AppleIntelPenrynProfile 17
com.apple.driver.ACPI_SMC_PlatformPlugin 4.5.0d5
com.apple.driver.AppleLPC 1.4.12
com.apple.iokit.SCSITaskUserClient 2.6.5
com.apple.BootCache 31
com.apple.AppleFSCompression.AppleFSCompressionTypeZlib 1.0.0d1
com.apple.iokit.IOAHCIBlockStorage 1.6.3
com.apple.driver.AppleIntel8254XEthernet 2.1.1b7
com.apple.driver.AppleFWOHCI 4.7.1
com.apple.driver.AppleUSBHub 4.1.7
com.apple.driver.AppleAHCIPort 2.1.5
com.apple.driver.AppleIntelPIIXATA 2.5.1
com.apple.driver.AirPortBrcm43224 427.36.9
com.apple.driver.AppleEFINVRAM 1.4.0
com.apple.driver.AppleUSBEHCI 4.1.8
com.apple.driver.AppleACPIButtons 1.3.5
com.apple.driver.AppleUSBUHCI 4.1.5
com.apple.driver.AppleRTC 1.3.1
com.apple.driver.AppleHPET 1.5
com.apple.driver.AppleSMBIOS 1.6
com.apple.driver.AppleACPIEC 1.3.5
com.apple.driver.AppleAPIC 1.4
com.apple.driver.AppleIntelCPUPowerManagementClient 105.13.0
com.apple.security.sandbox 1
com.apple.security.quarantine 0
com.apple.nke.applicationfirewall 2.1.11
com.apple.driver.AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement 105.13.0
com.apple.driver.AppleHIDKeyboard 141 - last loaded 29092085388
com.apple.driver.IOBluetoothHIDDriver 2.4.0f1
com.apple.driver.AppleProfileReadCounterAction 17
com.apple.driver.DspFuncLib 1.9.9f12
com.apple.driver.AppleProfileTimestampAction 10
com.apple.driver.AppleProfileThreadInfoAction 14
com.apple.driver.AppleProfileRegisterStateAction 10
com.apple.driver.AppleProfileKEventAction 10
com.apple.driver.AppleProfileCallstackAction 20
com.apple.iokit.IONDRVSupport 2.2
com.apple.kext.ATI2600Controller 6.2.6
com.apple.kext.ATISupport 6.2.6
com.apple.iokit.IOFireWireIP 2.0.3
com.apple.iokit.IOSurface 74.2
com.apple.iokit.IOBluetoothSerialManager 2.4.0f1
com.apple.iokit.IOSerialFamily 10.0.3
com.apple.iokit.IOAudioFamily 1.8.0fc1
com.apple.kext.OSvKernDSPLib 1.3
com.apple.iokit.IOUSBHIDDriver 4.1.5
com.apple.driver.AppleHDAController 1.9.9f12
com.apple.iokit.IOGraphicsFamily 2.2
com.apple.iokit.IOHDAFamily 1.9.9f12
com.apple.iokit.AppleProfileFamily 41
com.apple.driver.AppleSMC 3.1.0d3
com.apple.driver.IOPlatformPluginFamily 4.5.0d5
com.apple.driver.CSRUSBBluetoothHCIController 2.4.0f1
com.apple.driver.AppleUSBBluetoothHCIController 2.4.0f1
com.apple.iokit.IOBluetoothFamily 2.4.0f1
com.apple.iokit.IOSCSIBlockCommandsDevice 2.6.5
com.apple.driver.AppleUSBMergeNub 4.1.8
com.apple.iokit.IOUSBMassStorageClass 2.6.5
com.apple.driver.AppleUSBComposite 3.9.0
com.apple.iokit.IOSCSIMultimediaCommandsDevice 2.6.5
com.apple.iokit.IOBDStorageFamily 1.6
com.apple.iokit.IODVDStorageFamily 1.6
com.apple.iokit.IOCDStorageFamily 1.6
com.apple.driver.XsanFilter 402.1
com.apple.iokit.IOATAPIProtocolTransport 2.5.1
com.apple.iokit.IOSCSIArchitectureModelFamily 2.6.5
com.apple.iokit.IOFireWireFamily 4.2.6
com.apple.iokit.IOUSBUserClient 4.1.5
com.apple.iokit.IOAHCIFamily 2.0.4
com.apple.iokit.IOATAFamily 2.5.1
com.apple.iokit.IO80211Family 314.1.1
com.apple.iokit.IONetworkingFamily 1.10
com.apple.iokit.IOHIDFamily 1.6.5
com.apple.iokit.IOUSBFamily 4.1.8
com.apple.driver.AppleEFIRuntime 1.4.0
com.apple.iokit.IOSMBusFamily 1.1
com.apple.kext.AppleMatch 1.0.0d1
com.apple.security.TMSafetyNet 6
com.apple.driver.DiskImages 289
com.apple.iokit.IOStorageFamily 1.6.2
com.apple.driver.AppleACPIPlatform 1.3.5
com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily 2.6
com.apple.iokit.IOACPIFamily 1.3.0

You have an ordinary install of Mac OS X 10.6.7 -- except that no one should be running that today. You should upgrade to 10.6.8 right away to get better protection from malware.
You have modified the Mac OS X kernel by installing these extensions:
com.paceap.kext.pacesupport.snowleopard 5.9.1
com.digidesign.iokit.DigiDal 8.1.1d2
Pace.app is a known troublemaker. It is used to ensure that you don't steal some expensive software package, but it thinks it is an Anti-Virus program as well. It's not helpful.
The panic occurred in Managed Client. It is very unusual to be running that unless you have a Server or have enabled Parental Controls. The NTFS driver was in the backtrace as well.
Your Mac Pro 3,1 has Error Correcting Code Memory. Memory problems are detected in Hardware. This report is not a memory problem report.

NMac Pro 6core D500 problems with screen refresh: 10.9.3 warning!

Avoid 10.9.3 on the Mac Pro 6 core, D500.
Problem with screen refresh using Motion soon after updating OSX from Mac Pro late 2013 version of 10.9.2.
I tried my Asus HDMI at all resolutions but to no avial. The screen juddered like it was Windows 95 without any GPU drivers.
Apple's Tech Support had me use many key commands and finally we found out there was no issue with my hardware. Apple suggested a clean install before sending it back for repair. I was fortunate to have had made a backup in the Time Machine of my computer soon after installing all my apps. After restoring my computer is running 10.9.2 version made for the Mac Pros Late 2013. There are no more problems with screen redraw after using Motion.
So, it is clear I cannot upgrade my Mac Pro to 10.9.3 while the issue with Motion's render engine messing with my screen refresh continues. Returning to 10.9.2 has made me realize 10.9.3 is slower and not as stable.
I would suggest not upgrading unless you have a 4k monitor.

Avoid 10.9.3 on the Mac Pro 6 core, D500.
Problem with screen refresh using Motion soon after updating OSX from Mac Pro late 2013 version of 10.9.2.
I tried my Asus HDMI at all resolutions but to no avial. The screen juddered like it was Windows 95 without any GPU drivers.
Apple's Tech Support had me use many key commands and finally we found out there was no issue with my hardware. Apple suggested a clean install before sending it back for repair. I was fortunate to have had made a backup in the Time Machine of my computer soon after installing all my apps. After restoring my computer is running 10.9.2 version made for the Mac Pros Late 2013. There are no more problems with screen redraw after using Motion.
So, it is clear I cannot upgrade my Mac Pro to 10.9.3 while the issue with Motion's render engine messing with my screen refresh continues. Returning to 10.9.2 has made me realize 10.9.3 is slower and not as stable.
I would suggest not upgrading unless you have a 4k monitor.

Kernel Panic Mac Pro Mid 2012

Hi,
It's been several nights that I have a dozen kernel panic on my Mid 2012 Mac Pro and during the day there is no problem.
I'm hoping someone can help me identify what may have caused it.
Thanks for looking:
Processor 3.33 GHz 6-Core Intel Xeon
Memory 32 GB 800 MHz DDR3 ECC
Graphics ATI Radeon HD 5770 1024 MB
Software OS X 10.8.5 (12F45)
Interval Since Last Panic Report: 36 sec
Panics Since Last Report:          1
Anonymous UUID:                    ******
Thu Dec 12 09:40:54 2013
Machine-check capabilities 0x0000000000001c09:
family: 6 model: 44 stepping: 2 microcode: 15
Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU           W3680 @ 3.33GHz
9 error-reporting banks
threshold-based error status present
extended corrected memory error handling present
Processor 0: machine-check status 0x0000000000000004:
machine-check in progress
MCA error-reporting registers:
IA32_MC0_STATUS(0x401): 0x0000000000000800 invalid
IA32_MC1_STATUS(0x405): 0x0000000000000800 invalid
IA32_MC2_STATUS(0x409): 0x0000000000000000 invalid
IA32_MC3_STATUS(0x40d): 0x0000000000000000 invalid
IA32_MC4_STATUS(0x411): 0x0000000000000000 invalid
IA32_MC5_STATUS(0x415): 0x0000000000000000 invalid
IA32_MC6_STATUS(0x419): 0x0000000000000000 invalid
IA32_MC7_STATUS(0x41d): 0x0000000000000000 invalid
Package 0 logged:
IA32_MC8_STATUS(0x421): 0xbe0000400001009f valid
Channel number:         15 (unknown)
Memory Operation:       read
Machine-specific error: Read ECC
COR_ERR_CNT:            1
Status bits:
   Processor context corrupt
   ADDR register valid
   MISC register valid
   Error enabled
   Uncorrected error
IA32_MC8_ADDR(0x422): 0x0000000876309040
IA32_MC8_MISC(0x423): 0x00054c0400040288
RTID:     136
DIMM:     0
Channel: 1
Syndrome: 0x54c04
Processor 1: machine-check status 0x0000000000000004:
machine-check in progress
MCA error-reporting registers:
IA32_MC0_STATUS(0x401): 0x0000000000000800 invalid
IA32_MC1_STATUS(0x405): 0x0000000000000800 invalid
IA32_MC2_STATUS(0x409): 0x0000000000000000 invalid
IA32_MC3_STATUS(0x40d): 0x0000000000000000 invalid
IA32_MC4_STATUS(0x411): 0x0000000000000000 invalid
IA32_MC5_STATUS(0x415): 0x0000000000000000 invalid
IA32_MC6_STATUS(0x419): 0x0000000000000000 invalid
IA32_MC7_STATUS(0x41d): 0x0000000000000000 invalid
IA32_MC8_STATUS(0x421): 0xbe0000400001009f valid
MCA error code:            0x009f
Model specific error code: 0x0001
Other information:         0x00000040
Threshold-based status:    Undefined
Status bits:
   Processor context corrupt
   ADDR register valid
   MISC register valid
   Error enabled
   Uncorrected error
IA32_MC8_ADDR(0x422): 0x0000000876309040
IA32_MC8_MISC(0x423): 0x00054c0400040288
Processor 2: machine-check status 0x0000000000000004:
machine-check in progress
MCA error-reporting registers:
IA32_MC0_STATUS(0x401): 0x0000000000000800 invalid
IA32_MC1_STATUS(0x405): 0x0000000000000800 invalid
IA32_MC2_STATUS(0x409): 0x0000000000000000 invalid
IA32_MC3_STATUS(0x40d): 0x0000000000000000 invalid
IA32_MC4_STATUS(0x411): 0x0000000000000000 invalid
IA32_MC5_STATUS(0x415): 0x0000000000000000 invalid
IA32_MC6_STATUS(0x419): 0x0000000000000000 invalid
IA32_MC7_STATUS(0x41d): 0x0000000000000000 invalid
IA32_MC8_STATUS(0x421): 0xbe0000400001009f valid
MCA error code:            0x009f
Model specific error code: 0x0001
Other information:         0x00000040
Threshold-based status:    Undefined
Status bits:
   Processor context corrupt
   ADDR register valid
   MISC register valid
   Error enabled
   Uncorrected error
IA32_MC8_ADDR(0x422): 0x0000000876309040
IA32_MC8_MISC(0x423): 0x00054c0400040288
Processor 3: machine-check status 0x0000000000000004:
machine-check in progress
MCA error-reporting registers:
IA32_MC0_STATUS(0x401): 0x0000000000000800 invalid
IA32_MC1_STATUS(0x405): 0x0000000000000800 invalid
IA32_MC2_STATUS(0x409): 0x0000000000000000 invalid
IA32_MC3_STATUS(0x40d): 0x0000000000000000 invalid
IA32_MC4_STATUS(0x411): 0x0000000000000000 invalid
IA32_MC5_STATUS(0x415): 0x0000000000000000 invalid
IA32_MC6_STATUS(0x419): 0x0000000000000000 invalid
IA32_MC7_STATUS(0x41d): 0x0000000000000000 invalid
IA32_MC8_STATUS(0x421): 0xbe0000400001009f valid
MCA error code:            0x009f
Model specific error code: 0x0001
Other information:         0x00000040
Threshold-based status:    Undefined
Status bits:
   Processor context corrupt
   ADDR register valid
   MISC register valid
   Error enabled
   Uncorrected error
IA32_MC8_ADDR(0x422): 0x0000000876309040
IA32_MC8_MISC(0x423): 0x00054c0400040288
Processor 4: machine-check status 0x0000000000000004:
machine-check in progress
MCA error-reporting registers:
IA32_MC0_STATUS(0x401): 0x0000000000000800 invalid
IA32_MC1_STATUS(0x405): 0x0000000000000800 invalid
IA32_MC2_STATUS(0x409): 0x0000000000000000 invalid
IA32_MC3_STATUS(0x40d): 0x0000000000000000 invalid
IA32_MC4_STATUS(0x411): 0x0000000000000000 invalid
IA32_MC5_STATUS(0x415): 0x0000000000000000 invalid
IA32_MC6_STATUS(0x419): 0x0000000000000000 invalid
IA32_MC7_STATUS(0x41d): 0x0000000000000000 invalid
IA32_MC8_STATUS(0x421): 0xbe0000400001009f valid
MCA error code:            0x009f
Model specific error code: 0x0001
Other information:         0x00000040
Threshold-based status:    Undefined
Status bits:
   Processor context corrupt
   ADDR register valid
   MISC register valid
   Error enabled
   Uncorrected error
IA32_MC8_ADDR(0x422): 0x0000000876309040
IA32_MC8_MISC(0x423): 0x00054c0400040288
Processor 5: machine-check status 0x0000000000000004:
machine-check in progress
MCA error-reporting registers:
IA32_MC0_STATUS(0x401): 0x0000000000000800 invalid
IA32_MC1_STATUS(0x405): 0x0000000000000800 invalid
IA32_MC2_STATUS(0x409): 0x0000000000000000 invalid
IA32_MC3_STATUS(0x40d): 0x0000000000000000 invalid
IA32_MC4_STATUS(0x411): 0x0000000000000000 invalid
IA32_MC5_STATUS(0x415): 0x0000000000000000 invalid
IA32_MC6_STATUS(0x419): 0x0000000000000000 invalid
IA32_MC7_STATUS(0x41d): 0x0000000000000000 invalid
IA32_MC8_STATUS(0x421): 0xbe0000400001009f valid
MCA error code:            0x009f
Model specific error code: 0x0001
Other information:         0x00000040
Threshold-based status:    Undefined
Status bits:
   Processor context corrupt
   ADDR register valid
   MISC register valid
   Error enabled
   Uncorrected error
IA32_MC8_ADDR(0x422): 0x0000000876309040
IA32_MC8_MISC(0x423): 0x00054c0400040288
Processor 6: machine-check status 0x0000000000000004:
machine-check in progress
MCA error-reporting registers:
IA32_MC0_STATUS(0x401): 0x0000000000000800 invalid
IA32_MC1_STATUS(0x405): 0x0000000000000800 invalid
IA32_MC2_STATUS(0x409): 0x0000000000000000 invalid
IA32_MC3_STATUS(0x40d): 0x0000000000000000 invalid
IA32_MC4_STATUS(0x411): 0x0000000000000000 invalid
IA32_MC5_STATUS(0x415): 0x0000000000000000 invalid
IA32_MC6_STATUS(0x419): 0x0000000000000000 invalid
IA32_MC7_STATUS(0x41d): 0x0000000000000000 invalid
IA32_MC8_STATUS(0x421): 0xbe0000400001009f valid
MCA error code:            0x009f
Model specific error code: 0x0001
Other information:         0x00000040
Threshold-based status:    Undefined
Status bits:
   Processor context corrupt
   ADDR register valid
   MISC register valid
   Error enabled
   Uncorrected error
IA32_MC8_ADDR(0x422): 0x0000000876309040
IA32_MC8_MISC(0x423): 0x00054c0400040288
Processor 7: machine-check status 0x0000000000000004:
machine-check in progress
MCA error-reporting registers:
IA32_MC0_STATUS(0x401): 0x0000000000000800 invalid
IA32_MC1_STATUS(0x405): 0x0000000000000800 invalid
IA32_MC2_STATUS(0x409): 0x0000000000000000 invalid
IA32_MC3_STATUS(0x40d): 0x0000000000000000 invalid
IA32_MC4_STATUS(0x411): 0x0000000000000000 invalid
IA32_MC5_STATUS(0x415): 0x0000000000000000 invalid
IA32_MC6_STATUS(0x419): 0x0000000000000000 invalid
IA32_MC7_STATUS(0x41d): 0x0000000000000000 invalid
IA32_MC8_STATUS(0x421): 0xbe0000400001009f valid
MCA error code:            0x009f
Model specific error code: 0x0001
Other information:         0x00000040
Threshold-based status:    Undefined
Status bits:
   Processor context corrupt
   ADDR register valid
   MISC register valid
   Error enabled
   Uncorrected error
IA32_MC8_ADDR(0x422): 0x0000000876309040
IA32_MC8_MISC(0x423): 0x00054c0400040288
Processor 8: machine-check status 0x0000000000000004:
machine-check in progress
MCA error-reporting registers:
IA32_MC0_STATUS(0x401): 0x0000000000000800 invalid
IA32_MC1_STATUS(0x405): 0x0000000000000800 invalid
IA32_MC2_STATUS(0x409): 0x0000000000000000 invalid
IA32_MC3_STATUS(0x40d): 0x0000000000000000 invalid
IA32_MC4_STATUS(0x411): 0x0000000000000000 invalid
IA32_MC5_STATUS(0x415): 0x0000000000000000 invalid
IA32_MC6_STATUS(0x419): 0x0000000000000000 invalid
IA32_MC7_STATUS(0x41d): 0x0000000000000000 invalid
IA32_MC8_STATUS(0x421): 0xbe0000400001009f valid
MCA error code:            0x009f
Model specific error code: 0x0001
Other information:         0x00000040
Threshold-based status:    Undefined
Status bits:
   Processor context corrupt
   ADDR register valid
   MISC register valid
   Error enabled
   Uncorrected error
IA32_MC8_ADDR(0x422): 0x0000000876309040
IA32_MC8_MISC(0x423): 0x000
System Profile:
Model: MacPro5,1, BootROM MP51.007F.B03, 6 processors, 6-Core Intel Xeon, 3.33 GHz, 32 GB, SMC 1.39f11
Graphics: ATI Radeon HD 5770, ATI Radeon HD 5770, PCIe, 1024 MB
Memory Module: DIMM 1, 8 GB, DDR3 ECC, 800 MHz, 0x066D, 0x5452563847333643392D5A38000000000000
Memory Module: DIMM 2, 8 GB, DDR3 ECC, 800 MHz, 0x066D, 0x5452563847333643392D5A38000000000000
Memory Module: DIMM 3, 8 GB, DDR3 ECC, 800 MHz, 0x066D, 0x5452563847333643392D5A38000000000000
Memory Module: DIMM 4, 8 GB, DDR3 ECC, 800 MHz, 0x066D, 0x5452563847333643392D5A38000000000000
AirPort: spairport_wireless_card_type_airport_extreme (0x14E4, 0x8E), Broadcom BCM43xx 1.0 (5.106.98.100.17)
Bluetooth: Version 4.1.7f2 12718, 3 service, 21 devices, 3 incoming serial ports
Network Service: Ethernet 2, Ethernet, en1
Network Service: Ethernet -ALGO - 182, Ethernet, en0
PCI Card: ATI Radeon HD 5770, sppci_displaycontroller, Slot-1
Serial ATA Device: HL-DT-ST DVD-RW GH80N
Serial ATA Device: MD20000-NSDW-RO, 2 TB
Serial ATA Device: APPLE SSD TS512C, 500.28 GB
Serial ATA Device: WDC WD1000DHTZ-04N21V0, 1 TB
Serial ATA Device: WDC WD1000DHTZ-04N21V0, 1 TB
USB Device: Keyboard Hub, apple_vendor_id, 0x1006, 0xfa200000 / 2
USB Device: Macally Optical iceMouse, 0x2222, 0x3080, 0xfa230000 / 4
USB Device: Apple Keyboard, apple_vendor_id, 0x0250, 0xfa220000 / 3
USB Device: BRCM2046 Hub, 0x0a5c (Broadcom Corp.), 0x4500, 0x5a100000 / 2
USB Device: Bluetooth USB Host Controller, apple_vendor_id, 0x8215, 0x5a110000 / 3
FireWire Device: built-in_hub, 800mbit_speed

The aftermarket memory that's installed doesn't meet the specifications for your model ( 1066 MHz DDR3 ECC SDRAM.) Reinstall the original memory, or install new memory of the right type.

Mac Pro 2008 with 8800 GT, hard freezes with screen savers/OpenGL. You too?

I have been experiencing random intermittent hard crashes of my "early 2008" model 8-core Mac Pro. Now I have finally found an easy reproducible test case (see below), and hope others will try it and post the results. This is a video-driver related crash that I have now duplicated with two different video cards.
The symptom is that my screen randomly freezes. The mouse moves, but there's no way to use the Mac[1]. Holding the Power button to force the Mac to shutdown is the only way out.
Usually, this occurs when I get to my office in the morning, or after the gym. That's because the screen saver is running. I found that the screensaver, other OpenGL/3D type applications, are what triggers this bug.
The bug seems to be with the graphics driver. Immediately before the freeze, messages like this are printed in the system log:
Mar 26 18:34:14 Mac-Pro kernel[0]: NVChannel(GL): Graphics channel exception!
status = 0xffff info32 = 0xd = GR: SW Notify Error
Mar 26 18:34:14 Mac-Pro kernel[0]: 0000000c
Mar 26 18:34:14 Mac-Pro kernel[0]: 00200000 0000502d 00000470 00000000
Mar 26 18:34:14 Mac-Pro kernel[0]: 00000482 000002ac 00000003 00000003
Mar 26 18:34:14 Mac-Pro kernel[0]: 00000000 00000000 01be0003
Mar 26 18:34:14 Mac-Pro kernel[0]: NVChannel(GL): Graphics channel exception!
status = 0xffff info32 = 0x3 = Fifo: Unknown Method Error
Mar 26 18:34:14 Mac-Pro kernel[0]: 0000000b
Mar 26 18:34:14 Mac-Pro kernel[0]: NVChannel(GL): Graphics channel exception!
status = 0xffff info32 = 0x3 = Fifo: Unknown Method Error
Other errors like these also appear (the actual log output volume is too large for this forum):
Mar 26 21:15:15 Mac-Pro kernel[0]: NVChannel(GL): Graphics channel exception! status = 0xffff info32 = 0x6 = Fifo: Parse Error
Mar 26 18:34:14 Mac-Pro kernel[0]: NVChannel(GL): Graphics channel exception! status = 0xffff info32 = 0xd = GR: SW Notify Error
Anyway, finally I found on another thread about a similar issue[2], a recommendation to run Folding@Home program to trigger the freeze. They were talking about another Mac model, but sure enough, it triggers my problem every time. I downloaded the client[3], installed it, and then launched the app which gets put in the Applications folder. It doesn't even finish bouncing once in the dock before the Mac Pro freezes.
This is not a bug specific to Folding@Home; juding from the log messages and the effect, this is exactly the same crash that is intermittently triggered by the default Mac OS X screensavers (I use Arabesque, but I think any OpenGL screen saver does it). It's just that running Folding@Home is an easier way to trigger the bug than leaving your screensaver running for hours.
So, that is pretty unfortunate, right? I mean, not only can my new Mac Pro not sleep without losing all unsaved data (yes, I have the reboot-instead-of-wake problem[4], too, but that is another issue...) but it also crashes at random whenever the screen saver runs for a while, or somebody uses OpenGL programs. I have set my machine to never use the screen saver, but still.
So, first and foremost, my question for other 2008 Mac Pro owners with the 8800 video card is: does your Mac puke all over itself when you launch Folding@Home?
I just found it a little bit hard to believe that every Mac owner of the most expensive new Mac and the higher end video card will have these crashes. It could be, but it seemed far-fetched. So I tried some troubleshooting:
a
1.) I considered that I had a bad video card, so I got another GeForce 8800 GT and installed that. Still crashed.
2.) I disconnected my second monitor, and tried it with only one monitor. Still crashed.
3.) I booted from the pristine boot disk my Mac shipped with (10.5.1). Still crashed.
4.) I reduced the resolution on my 30" Cinema display to 800x600. Still crashed.
5.) Just to stave off the usual chorus of "try zapping your PRAM" posts, I zapped the PRAM. Of course, this did nothing (I don't think this has really fixed a problem since the 1990s...). Anyway, it still crashed.
6.) In doing all these tests, I disconnected all USB/FireWire peripherals.
7.) My Mac is totally up-to-date with Software Update as of Thu, Mar 27, 2008. Mac OS X 10.5.2.
I don't want to return this Mac to Apple; it is wicked fast and that really helps me with my work. But, the frequent crashing really is a productivity-killer.
So: does every 2008 Mac Pro owner with an 8800 GT have this problem?
(Note: there are lots of similar problems with other Macs and the new Mac OS X 10.5... I hope to specifically address this particular model and crash in this thread.)
If not, I will go to the next extreme step: pulling out some of my RAM. I have 12GB of RAM, and it all seems to work fine, no parity errors or anything. But I know sometimes problems don't happen unless there's "too much" RAM, "too high" resolution, and so on. But I would like to hear from others before I go banging on my precious DIMMs and riser cards.
Thanks for any information!
The next step will be to determine if this is just another unfortunate defect that affects ALL 2088 Mac Pros (in which case I would want to keep my fast Mac and wait for fixed drivers), or if perhaps just a subset of them have defective video cards that cause the driver to crash in this way (in which case I would want a replacement).
---------- NOTES: ----------
[1]: I can connect via SSH on the command line to the Mac. However, the GUI environment seems borked; opening apps or trying to gracefully quit them via AppleScript either does not work or really hard freezes everything, such that SSH no longer works either.
[2]: A similar (but perhaps different) issue affecting notebooks is discussed here, and there are some people with Mac Pros, too: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=6786960
[3]: The Folding @ Home client, which can be used to trigger this bug, can be gotten here: http://folding.stanford.edu/English/Download
[4]: The severe defect affecting many (most?) 2008 Mac Pro machines' ability to sleep without losing data is discussed in this other thread: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1353551

Hello guys, thank you for the replies.
I do have more data at this point.
ujeezy: Those posts on MacNN and others like them did give some clues.
Jon BWFC: I think you are (partly) right that it's (partly) an issue with the driver. But I have confirmed with a fair degree of certainty in my case that it is a hardware issue too, likely with the video card and not the Mac Pro itself.
cmcom: I think it sounds like you problem is different than the one we're talking about (although who knows, the driver could be causing that too). The freeze we are seeing locks up the whole Mac, and no application crash report is produced.
I had another GeForce 8800 card, so I went through some exhaustive troubleshooting. I tested each card, installed in each of the 16x slots, booting from either my normal 10.5.2 boot disk or a clone of the pristine virgin system disk that shipped with the Mac, and tried to see if the Mac would crash.
Unfortunately this was harder than it seems, because:
a.) both my GeForce 8800 cards appear to be defective, but in different ways (see [1] and [2] below)
b.) In my testing, I thought I was seeing the crash sometimes, but later I discovered that there are different ways to make the Mac crash like this. That is, there are bugs in Mac OS X 10.5.x (probably in the NVIDIA driver) that cause similar crashes, and these bugs occur on all Mac Pro units and even other Mac models, without any hardware defects. Unfortunately, the Folding@home exercises one such bug.[3]
So the upshot is, all those times I was using Folding@home to test this issue were bogus, because Folding@home crashes any Mac Pro with the NVIDIA card, and crashes MacBook Pro machines with NVIDIA chips as well.
Argh! So I had to retest. It took a couple of days but I found another reliable way to crash my Mac Pro, more quickly than just leaving the screensaver on for a day or two: run this OpenGL virtual fish tank simulator[4] for 2-3 minutes. Unlike the Folding@home test, this did not crash any of my other Macs, and after exhaustive testing I found that it ONLY crashed the Mac Pro with one of the GeForce 880 cards installed, and not the other one. This was regardless of what slot it was installed in or what boot disk was used.
Whew! So, I concluded that indeed, there is a hardware defect in one of my GeForce 8800 cards which causes the machine to lock up. [2]
What made this problem much harder to deal with was the fact that Mac OS X (specifically the graphics driver parts of the OS, perhaps NVIDIA-specific) crashes with these same symptoms in other cases too. Like when you run Folding@home, or in some of these cases people are talking about with their MacBook Pro machines.
So, when there is a bona-fide hardware defect, it is really hard to isolate. (It took me like four days.)
The thing is, the defective NVIDIA card that crashes the Mac[2] was a REPLACEMENT card for the 8800 card that shipped with my Mac. I called Apple about the video artifacts I was seeing and they replaced the card.
I am now running the original card (and suffering the ugly video artifacts, but no crashes). At my own expense, I ordered an ATI card (the RADEON HD 2600 XT) and I will install that.
I hope someday to have my Mac work without graphics glitches or crashes. For now, operating (mostly) without crashes will have to do.
The original problem with this Mac continues, though: the video doesn't work correctly; it starts displaying visual artifacts after 1-72 hours of use[1]. That could either be because:
a.) a hardware defect in that video card
b.) a software problem with the driver/OS
c.) a hardware defect in the Mac itself
I strongly suspect A, but hopefully my buying a different card and testing with that will help further isolate what is wrong.
I am marking this thread "solved" because the specific issue I originally posted about has been resolved: the GeForce 8800 card causing the crashes is defective, and using another card fixes that issue.
[1]: The original GeForce 8800 card that shipped with my Mac Pro exhibited annoying-but-not-deadly video artifacts, which can be seen here: http://masonmark.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/bogusvideoartifacts.jpg
[2]: Apple replaced the video card, and that is when my deadly video-corruption-plus-frozen-Mac crash problem began. A screenshot example of that problem can be seen here: http://masonmark.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/crashedmac_pro_akashitball.jpg
[3]: The red herring in this case was the Mac OS X bug (seemingly specific to NVIDIA-equipped Macs including Mac Pro and MacBook Pro) that causes a very similar full system crash. This bug can easily be triggered by running the Folding@home version "6.10beta2" demo application. That is a serious bug, and since my employer is a Mac software company I reported this bug to Apple via the official channel. It is Apple bug number 5830772.
[4]: The OpenGL fish tank simulator I found, which would trigger the system crash caused by my defective 8800 video card (but would not crash any other Mac, or crash my Mac Pro with the other 8800 video card installed) can be found at: http://uri.cat/software/Fish/

MobileSTOR MS2UT + esata + USB + mac pro = never-ending problems

Hey gang,
I seemed to have entered a perfect storm here:
I had purchased the *MobileSTOR MS2UT 2 Bay SATA to eSATA/USB 2.0 RAID 0/1* Enclosure initially for a *dual 800 quicksilver G4* mac that I had, looking for a hardware-based Raid solution for back ups and to not burden the G4 processor. I have replaced the G4 with an early *2008 2.8 dual quad core mac pro*. After two machines and two different PCI sata cards, I've had no luck....
(website for the above enclosure)
http://www.sansdigital.com/mobilestor/ms2ut.html
For starters, in the G4, I had a quality Seritek/1ve2+2 controller that had no problem with two other single drive enclosures, but failed with the MS2UT.
http://www.firmtek.com/seritek/seritek-1ve2plus2/
A glib response from Seritek support says that I should use their enclosure. Digging around I find that I need a controller card that can handle a port multiplier enclosure rather than just any serial ata enclosure. Seems silly to me that the user has to dig for this. I mean the USB & FIREWIRE interfaces don't seem to care: it says USB/FIREWIRE on the effing box of both the controller and on the drive, badda-bing, badda boom: it works. Whats with this high maintenance of esata. Well you get roughly 2-3x the performance so Ok, maybe its worth it.
Well, with the macpro on the horizon,, I give up on the G4, close that unsolved mystery. For the mac pro I figure PCIe, a modern computer, no problem. I get the computer, fish around the internet for an esata PCIe card, then I come across this review of the WiebeTech SilverSATA II which appears to be similar to that of the MobileSTOR:
http://www.amug.org/amug-web/html/amug/reviews/articles/wiebetech/silver2/
It appears that the unit has specific tastes as far as having the right card to make it bootable, multiport aware, etc... (the Sonnet Tempo 4+4 card works but its a PCIx card, not PCIe)
Like I said: install a bootable Mac OS on any USB/firewire drive, plug it into any card, and it works... estata... its russian roulette...
Ok so I round up some vendors, (firmtek, sonnet, Highpoint) send them emails to see what they think: if their latest cards will work with the MS2UT... They are all over the place.. they think it may work, they dunno... it should work, they haven't tested it... then they try to push their own enclosure hardware on me. I mean see an astrologist or have your palm read.. it seems more likely you'll get a more accurate answer from them, rather than vendors... props to Sonnet, though, they list compatibility right on the page with their controller.
then 10.6 comes out... and you email vendors about compatibility on that OS, and they don't even email you back.
So I find this review of the highpoint rocket raid for the mac on the great sight: Barefeats.com
http://www.barefeats.com/hard119.html
to make a long story short:
+KEY FEATURES of the "eSATA for Mac"+
+1. Dual eSATA ports+
+2. 32 and 64-bit EFI onboard+
+3. Able to boot Mac OS X+
+4. Plug and Play for (Oxford and Silicon Image chipset) external storage+
enclosures
+5. 4x PCIe rating+
+6. Support for Direct Attached and Port Multiplied enclosures+
+7. RAID 0, 1, 5, and JBOD support using browser-based manager+
+8. Native support for Snow Leopard+
+9. Compatible with 2006 - 2009 Mac Pro+
I should be set, right? WRONG!
I email highpoint, detailing that I planned to mix both Port multiplied (PM) and direct access (DA) enclosures on the same card at the same time. They say maybe (only describing the PM enclosure, not even mentioning the DA enclosure compatibility as I specified), since its a raid card and I intended to use it with an enclosure with its own raid hardware, however they say they see no issues. Well it shows they don't even know their own hardware: Their docks say that the card supports PM enclosures as well as DA (direct access) enclosures. Their web based software even shows the two as separate categories. What is buried in the manual and not cleared up by tech support or their product page is that YOU CAN'T MIX PM AND DA ENCLOSURES ON THE CARD AT THE SAME TIME!!! I explained more in the paragraph above than any tech support from any company. Unbelievable where support has gone these days.
I discover the above because I found the card at Fry's believe it not and since they have a generous return policy I tried it out and learned the above the hard way. No dice on the MS2UT with what is perhaps the most forgiving esata card for the mac.
So more hunting on the web, this time the enclosure's manufacture site: sans digital.
http://www.sansdigital.com/mobilestor/ms2ut.html
...clicking on the accessories tab I find several esata adapter cards... funny that they include ones that don't appear to support PM enclosures... Anyway, I study two that state they supports port multipliers:
http://www.sansdigital.com/adapters/ha-san-4espcix2.html:
http://www.sansdigital.com/adapters/ha-dat-4espcie.html
Ok, I may not get a bootable enclosure.. I just want to get this thing working in esata since cloning my internal raid on the mac pro takes 8 hours using usb, and my main purpose is to maintain a clone so I make my compromise.
I should be set, right? WRONG!
reading the fine print on both cards it says:
*(Please note that the host adapter card is based on Silicon Image chipset, which currently only support up to MAC OS 10.5.1 by Silicon Image.)*
I do more research, it seems any manufacturer using chips by Silicon Image will have an issue with 10.6 macs! On some websites it says Silicon Image will never release a driver. On firmtek it says they make their own driver and swears that it works. At the Silicon Image website they say they are an OEM provider so don't bother them, and that its up to the vendor to make a compatible driver. Sheesh!!
I don't get it.. whats the point in having an esata sticker if it appears to come in more flavors than an ice cream shop!
Oh and it gets better: I go to the sonnet site, thinking they have to have something that works, looking at their latest tempo SATA E4P:
http://www.sonnettech.com/product/temposatae4p.html
well, the fine print is EXHAUSTIVE, but again props to Sonnet for making it crystal clear:
(4) Sonnet Tempo cards are compatible with most external SATA storage. However, external hard drives with USB 2.0/eSATA dual interface based on the Oxford Semiconductor OXU931DS storage controller chip may not be compatible with Mac OS X when connected via SATA. Known issues are kernel panics occurring when the drive is connected, or the drive not being recognized by the operating system.
+Summary of external SATA storage+
+• Storage with eSATA alone +
Compatible
+• Storage with triple interfaces +
Compatible
+• Storage with eSATA plus Firewire 400 and/or 800 +
Compatible
+• Storage with port multiplier support (multiple drives) +
Compatible
+• Storage with RAID 0, 1, or 5 (multiple drives) +
Compatible
+• Storage with eSATA plus USB (based on JMicron 20366) +
Compatible
+ these compatible drives include, but are not limited to:+
+- OWC Mercury On-the-Go USB 2.0/eSATA 2.5" portable+
+• Storage with eSATA plus USB (based on Oxford OXU931DS) +
+not compatible+
+ these incompatible drives include, but are not limited to:+
+- Western Digital My Book™ Premium ES Edition™+
+- Seagate Technology FreeAgent™ Pro+
+Advanced users note that this card is not yet compatible in full 64-bit boot. Snow Leopard default boots in 32-bit mode, except in an Xserve.+
So in short: if you have an enclosure that has both USB and esata, but does not use the JMicron 20366, then it will not be recognized by the card. If you have an enclosure with three interfaes: USB, FW and esata, you're fine. Keep in mind too: most manufacturers don't put the source manufacturer of their chipsets on the box. So I ask..
*HOW IS THE CONSUMER SUPPOSED TO KNOW!*
I swear, a perfect analogy is if I go to best buy, buy a toshiba DVD player only to discover it doesn't play DVD's that contain movies produced by Sony Pictures..because its not a a Sony/columbia House movie. You think consumers would put up with that crap? UNBELIEVABLE...
So now I have this really versatile enclosure that apparently can't run on Mac 10.6 with ANY esata controller for the mac. I really like the design of the enclosure, with its hardware based raid that is hot swappable and has a small footprint. However there seems to be no way to get a controller card for this device that will work on a 10.6 mac.
I guess whats inferred is that you should get an enclosure with the fewest variety of ports, i.e. esata/fw/usb... ironically if it has all three, you are ok, but not if it has usb/esata. Being that USB is the most popular, thats not easy. I'm looking to contact Sans Digital to see if they will exchange it for me, possible for a model with esata/fw800 or an esata only model, if it exists. My last resort is to just use it as a USB drive (my intention was to use it as a clone of my system, with the added security that the enclosure makes a copy of a copy in raid 1), however its like 3x as time consuming than esata.
If anyone has a working MobileSTOR MS2UT/wiebetech SilverSATA II in a 10.5 mac pro, please respond to me with your config. Thanks for reading!

Thank you hatter for your reply.
I'm familiar with OWC, as I've done business with them since 2001, as well as XLR8.
I have a 2008 mac pro so the 2009 model related problems are not an issue in my situation
As I stated above I go to reputable vendors for my hardware who have specific mac experience. I look specifically for hardened compatibility so that there is support for things like deep sleep. The Sans Digital enclosure was over $200..it was not cheap. The USB/Esata combo is the most common interface for the enclosure storage market. Having a compatibility issue is a vendor fault, not the buyer. Having minutiae flavors of esata compatability based on chipsets roulette wheel is inexcusable. The enclosure needs that I have is for the medium to be removable and be able to be rebuilt at the hardware level, i.e. at the enclosure's control panel. To the mac its just a drive. The hotswap and back up is transparent to the OS and mac hardware, and allows me to change from raid 0/1 and do back up right from the enclosure interface.
So far I haven't had problems with USB/Firewire. Meanwhile Esata to me has been nothing but beta testing for vendors and seeing how the chipset manufacturers have gone loosey-goosey on following spec and just dump cheap chinese crap into the market with no pride.
for comparison:
USB/FW, PATA, SATA, SCSI
1) industry standard
2) native drivers
3) bootable. Period.
4) buy a controller card/raid card, plug it in, format, it works even through major OS upgrades.
5) USB/FW: Hot-swapable. Yes it really does work.
Esata:
1) Multiple standards (again, look at the Sonnet website to see the minefield one has to walk through to mate a controller card to an enclosure)
2) non native drivers. Buying an esata card is like marrying into the vendors family. Plus if you manage to get things working and do an OS upgrade, you are playing russian roulette. If you system boots off it, then get life insurance because you may kill yourself.
3)Not bootable and no one seems to care to explain why. Whats odd is that some earlier PCIx cards were bootable (like sonnet Temp 4x4) but their PCIe successors aren't. Not sure if this has to do with the host computer BIOS and/or the current chipsets from SI which rely on custom drivers from the vendors. Another lovely example of this are the ODD_SATA ports on the Mac pro: storage only, not bootable. Sure it makes sense now that I've learned it the hard way, however to users of FW/USB and even IDE, one would think that motherboard ports are bootable. Yes I know this is a mac bios thing and its not even considered as part of the feature set of the computer
4) As I've shown, each controller card seems to be unique, even if its from the same vendor. Even the drivers vary from card to card! Heck even the vendors are unsure as to how compatible their controller cards are with various enclosures. That is proprietary, not industry standard. OS upgrades doesn't seem to provide native driver support for Direct access and/or port multiplying interfaces. The problem with this is that film/video users like myself like to build bullet proof systems, and with raids that I've built from IDE, FW, or USB, I've never had the minutiae of compatibility issues as I've had with esata. I installed an Acard raid controller in my dual 800 back in 2001, installed the drives and forgot about it. it just worked through multiple OS upgrades. Not sure whats gong on with esata.
5) Can't call it hot swappable if I can't get the **** thing to wok in the first place.
My analysis is this: Esata is basically a proprietary format to the vendor that sells the hardware, while USB/FW is an industry standard. I bought a quality enclosure that said "esata", I bought a quality controller that said "esata", it didn't work. I had to learn the hard way about DA and PM enclosures and now about chipset conflicts. I've built computers since the late 80's amiga days, hot-rodding that computer well beyond spec and with custom cooling. SCSI terminators and IDE master/slave issues were easy-cheesey because they followed straightforward rules. This esata stuff is just plain sloppy work on the part of vendors and as Danny Glover said I'm getting to old for this **** as far as being a beta tester for hardware.

Mac Pro 3,1 2008 w/ 10.8 upgrade to Mavericks

Looking for some advice:
I purchased a used Mac Pro Tower 3,1 2008. It comes w/ 10.8 and I want to upgrade to Mavericks. One year ago, I bought a 2007 Mac Pro from this seller and I recall having problems w/ the Apple ID so I purchased Snow Leopard 10.6. I still have that install disk. (I'm switching to the 2008 because I want to upgrade to Logic X and need 64-bit EFI.)
My question to you: what is the easiest best way to get this, new-to-me, 2008 Mac Pro upgraded to Mavericks?
I have a couple of options (at least I think I do!):
1) Seeing as how I still have the 2007 Mac 2,1 w/ a 500 GB 7200 rpm drive that already has 10.6.8, Logic Pro 9.1.8 and all of my docs, could I simply put that drive into the 2008, boot up and upgrade to Mavericks without any Apple ID issues?
-or would you-
2) Try to upgrade the 2008's 1TB drive w/ 10.8 (tied to someone else's Apple ID) to Mavericks? This seems more complicated to me, but what would the process be and would you recommend it? For example, could I run Snow Leopard 10.6 from the disk and then go directly to Mavericks?
Thank you for your time.
New Computer Specs:
Jan 2008 Mac Pro 3,1
2x Quad Core 2.80 Ghz Intel Xeon
32 GB RAM
1 TB HD
10.8 OS
Old Computer Specs:
June 2007 Mac Pro 2,1
2x Quad Core 2.66 Ghz Intel Xeon
16 GB RAM
(2) HD's: 500 GB & 1TB (Audio Drive: WD Caviar Black)
10.6.8 OS
Logic Pro 9.1.8

Erase the drive and install Snow Leopard on the 2008, then upgrade to Mavericks.

Mac Pro 6 core, D500, 256ssd 64gb loss of memory problems

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